According to the Denver Post's Adrian Dater, the Red Wings will face off against the Colorado Avalanche tonight (9 PM EDT, FSD/WXYT) facing goaltender Craig Anderson, Lake Erie Monsters call-up Brian Willsie in lieu of the injured Darcy Tucker (who was released from the hospital with a concussion), and, per the NHL, the Wings will battle their way through calls made by referees Chris Lee and Brad Watson, with Mike Cvik and Johnny Murray working the lines.

The Wings' media has yet to update the status of probable scratch Justin Abdelkdaer and possible scratch Kirk Maltby, who may sit so that Brad May and Patrick Eaves can play on the fourth line with Darren Helm, so the Avalanche's website provides a video of Avalanche coach Joe Sacco's 5:09 game-day presser...

And the Detroit Examiner's Mike Mouat posted a superb game preview:

October 24, Detroit Examiner: Who’s hot: Coach Mike Babcock might be the hottest Red Wing right now as his team has let two games slip away from them in the past week. The last time these two teams met Colorado turned a 2-0 third period deficit into a 4-3 shootout win at Joe Louis Arena led by Cody McCleod’s two goals and Matt Duchene’s first NHL goal. On Thursday, the Red Wings lost 3-2 in overtime to Phoenix despite holding a 2-1 lead late in the third period. Henrik Zetterberg picked up two more assists in Thursday’s game and has six points in the last four games, and leads the Red Wings with nine points. Tomas Holmstrom has five goals in the last seven games, and Pavel Datsyuk returned to the lineup on Thursday joining Zetterberg and Holmstrom on the top line and had two assists.

Who’s not: The rest of the team. The second line of Ville Leino, Valtteri Filppula, and Jason Williams have a combined three points in the last three games. The third line of, Todd Bertuzzi, Kris Draper and Dan Cleary also have just three points combined in the last three games and minus-5. The defense as a group has turned the puck over 46 times in eight games, and the team is the third worst in the league with 96 turnovers. Chris Osgood has started six straight games, and is 3-1-2 with a goals against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of 0.899 during that stretch. He has played very well at times and then has let in some weak goals like Adrian Aucoin’s game-winner on Thursday. The Wings need consistently good, to really good, goaltending if they are to overcome their lost firepower through free agency this summer and the injury to Johan Franzen. And to that end Jimmy Howard will get his second start of the season. He lost his only other start 5-3 to St. Louis and looked shaky. Howard is 1-6 lifetime in the NHL with his only win coming back in 2005. ...Unsung Hero:
Defenseman Brad Stuart leads the team in hits (27) and is second in
blocked shots (12). He ranks third in time on ice per game (22:19) but
is the leader in time one ice at even-strength (18:05) and shorthanded
(3:47). In short, despite his minus-2 rating, he plays hard minutes
against the other teams top lines, their power plays and sacrifices his
body moreso than any other Red Wing.

Update 4:09 PM: MLive.com's own Ansar Khan reports that Patrick Eaves will play tonight, probably over Brad May, which has more to do with Darcy Tucker and Cody McLeod being out for the Avalanche than anything else...

Coach
Mike Babcock said Patrick Eaves will return to the lineup tonight
against the Avalanche after sitting out the last two games. He will
replace Justin Abdelkader. Babcock on Friday indicated that Brad May
would play tonight, but he might have changed his mind. He said he will
decide between May and Kirk Maltby after the pregame warmups.

He
might be less inclined to play May now that Avalanche tough guy Cody
McLeod is out of the lineup. McLeod, who scored two goals and fought
May in Colorado's 4-3 shootout win in Detroit a week ago, was placed in
injured reserve after taking a stick to the eye in Wednesday's game in
Minnesota.

Patrick Eaves, scratched the last three games, was back in the lineup, playing on the fourth line with Darren Helm.

Babcock
wasn't going to announce the other winger -- either Brad May or Kirk
Maltby -- until closer to game time. Initially, Babcock said May would
play, but that was before Avalanche tough guys Cody McLeod (eye) Darcy
Tucker (concussion) went down. Their absence may lead Babcock to go
with Maltby.

As for the decision to go back to Eaves, Babcock
said, "He's a hard-working, honest kid and he shoots the puck real
well. Sometimes when you're not scoring goals you want to try different
things. You always hope someone else is going to bang one in."

Derek Meech and Justin Abdelkader were scratched.

Oh yeah, by the way:

The defense pairing of Brett Lebda and Jonathan Ericsson were on the
ice for all three goals against Phoenix, and they are a minus-8
combined on the year, but Babcock hasn't lost any faith in them. "I
wouldn't give them any fault (for the Phoenix game)," he said. "I have
no problem whatsoever with that group. If those goals went in against
Nick (Lidstrom), do we evaluate him?